Combine all the ingredients except the eggs. Boil the eggs for 6 minutes then run under cold water until cold and peel. Get about a quarter of the venison mix in your hand, flatten out and bring round the egg to encase it.

For the Aioli

Combine all the ingredients except the oil in a food processor or blender and blend well for 1-2 minutes. With the blender running on high, slowly drizzle in the oil to emulsify and create the aioli. If your aioli is too thick you can add warm water at the end to thin it down if necessary.

To Finish

Take your venison wrapped eggs and dust them in flour, then egg and then finally in the breadcrumbs. You can deep fry these or if you don’t have a deep fryer you can bake them in the oven or shallow fry them but they will need to go into the oven for a few minutes until the centre is hot. Serve with a side of aioli

This is a good recipe for entertaining and an impressive way to cook venison. The kumara adds a buttery richness to the dish and the earthiness of the mushrooms compliments the flavour of the meat well. If you wanted to save time and did not want to use the pastry aspect of the dish you could simply grill the venison and add some cream and meat stock to the mushrooms for a simple mushroom sauce.

Finely dice the onion, mushrooms and garlic by pulsing them all together in a food processor. Place in a pot along with the butter and thyme and cook out on a low to moderate heat until everything has softened and the liquid has evaporated, about 15mins. Add the vinegar and cook for another 2mins. Season to taste with salt and pepper then set aside to cool.

For the Kumara mash

Peel the kumara and cut into even sized pieces. Starting in cold, salted water boil the kumara until nice and soft. Drain in a colander then return to the pot and cook over a low heat for 1 to 2 minutes to remove any excess water. Mash the kumara until nice and smooth. Melt the butter along with a little milk or cream and fold through the kumara mix. If the mash is too stiff add some cream or milk to thin it down and then season to taste with salt and white pepper.

For the Venison Wellington

Trim the venison back strap of any silver skin by inserting a sharp pointed knife (such as a boning knife) under one end of the silver skin then with the blade angled upward remove the silver skin off in strips cutting off as little meat as possible. Pat the meat dry with a kitchen towel if required and season with salt and pepper. In a very hot pan with a little oil, sear the back strap until nicely browned on each side but not at all cooked. Set aside.

Place the venison on a pastry sheet (you may need to cut your venison in half to fit depending on the size of your pastry sheets). Spoon some of the cold mushroom mix on top of the venison so the entire top of the meat is covered and then with one edge of the pastry brushed with milk so that it sticks, roll the venison and the mushroom together in the pastry and pinch the edges. Brush the pastry with milk.

To Serve

Bake the venison Wellington on an oven tray lined with grease proof paper in a 200C oven for 10-15mins for rare to medium rare depending on the thickness of your back strap. Cooking beyond medium rare will make your venison dry. Once cooked remove from the oven and poke a few small holes in the base of the pastry to allow any resting juices to escape and rest on an oven rack for 10 minutes before carving. Serve with some hot kumara mash and a green salad or seasonal veg along with Branston pickle if desired.

This recipe and is a home version of fast food using wild game. It’s one of my favourite ways to eat rabbit as it locks in the moisture and flavour so make sure you don’t skip the brining process as this is critical to ensuring a moist result. If you don’t have all the ingredients to make the brine you can use just salt and water and that is better than nothing. The smoked chilli mayo recipe uses smoke essence which is available from specialty shops or you can replace the chilli powder and tabasco with canned Chipotle chillies which will give the mayo a lightly smoky flavour.

Mix everything apart from the rabbit together and stir well to dissolve the salt. Take your skinned and gutted rabbit and using a sharp pointed knife remove any membrane and silver skin from the outside of the meat as this will go tough once cooked. Halve the now trimmed rabbit and cut each half through the bone into 6 pieces depending on how big you’d like them (I like to get 12 pieces out of every rabbit). Submerge the rabbit in the brine for about 12 hours or overnight.

For the mayo

Combine all ingredients except the oil and smoke essence in a food processor or blender. Slowly add the oil with the food processor running to emulsify the oil and create the creamy mayo. Add smoke essence to taste and more tabasco/chilli powder if more heat is desired. Add warm water at the end for consistency if the mayo is too thick.

For the rabbit coating

Combine in a large bowl all the ingredients except the milk and stir to mix all the spices evenly through the flour mix. Remove the rabbit from the brine and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Toss in the milk, shake off the excess and transfer to the flour mix. Toss the rabbit in the bowl of flour and leave for up to 2 hours making sure to give it a toss every now and again. This is to build up a good thick flour coating on the outside of the rabbit.

Fry in vegetable oil or lard at 160C for about 10mins (depending on the size of your rabbit pieces) or until golden brown and just cooked through. If you coating starts to get too dark before the middle of your rabbit is fully cooked you can remove the rabbit from the oil and finish it in an oven set to 150C for a few minutes until cooked through.

This recipe calls for pork shoulder which is a tougher secondary cut of meat and benefits from a slow, wet cooking method. You can get canned chipotle chilies from the supermarket and can serve the burger with a nice fresh coleslaw. Wild pork is great here, however any pork could be used but stick to a tough cut such as shoulder or belly.

100g can chipotle (use ½ to 1 whole can depending on how hot you want it)

250g can tomato paste

3Tbs red wine vinegar

1/2C water (use 1.5C if using an oven instead of a slow cooker)

1Tbs chopped rosemary (or dried herbs)

1Tbs salt

1/2tspn white pepper

Cucumber pickle

500g (about 2) cucumbers

1 onion

1/4C salt

1.5C white wine vinegar

3/4C sugar

1Tbs wholegrain mustard

1tspn turmeric

For the burger

Blend all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor and rub all over the pork. Place the pork along with any left-over marinade in your slow cooker and cook for about 8 hours or place in a roasting tray covered with tin foil and bake at 150 for 4-5hrs until tender and falling off the bone. If there is any liquid left then place in a pot and simmer until it thickens. Once cool enough to touch shred the meat and mix with any remaining cooked marinade and reduced cooking liquid.

For the pickle

Slice the cucumber and onion and toss with the salt in a bowl. Cover the cucumber salt mix with cold water and leave for an hour. Drain the salt water in a colander. Combine the remaining ingredients in pot and bring to boil. Pour the hot vinegar mix over the cucumber and onions then leave to cool. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month.